Ian Hunter: Traditional marriage is under fire in Britain

Traditional marriage is under fire in Britain

The biggest threat to the Catholic Church in Britain today comes not from other Christians, Muslims or even from the tyranny of relativism that Pope Benedict XVI has warned against. It comes from Her Majesty’s government, led by the ostensibly conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Cameron government intends to authorize some churches to perform same-sex marriages, as part of the government’s push to legalize the practice. The proposed legislation will require equal treatment for same-sex couples in every facet of civil society.

The Prime Minister has assured Catholics that they have nothing to worry about: The legislation will not require Catholic priests to conduct same-sex weddings. In a TV interview on Dec. 7, 2012, Mr. Cameron said: “Let me be absolutely 100% clear — if there is any church or any synagogue or any mosque that doesn’t want to have a gay marriage, it will not — it absolutely must not — be forced to hold it.”

When the legislation comes to be interpreted by human rights tribunals and by courts — and particularly by the European Court of Human Rights — the Prime Minister’s assurances will likely be found to be of little value.

Catholic Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth has accused the government of “luring the people of England away from their common Christian values and Christian patrimony, and forcing upon us a brave new world, artificially engineered.”

He is right, but even his use of the word “patrimony” will be considered offensive by many in these madcap times.

Some Canadians are old enough to remember similar assurances given by then prime minister Pierre Trudeau, namely that his proposed Criminal Code amendments would not pave the way for legalized abortion; Prime Minister Cameron’s assurances should provoke a rueful sense of deja vu.

It is curious that same-sex marriages are becoming legal throughout the western world at a time when many young people are rejecting marriage altogether. There are now reported to be in excess of 1.5-million common law couples in Canada, up about 400% in the last two decades.

Related

Why has marriage become unpopular? First, it is because the lifelong emotional security that marriage was thought to provide has proved a myth. Today, roughly half of marriages end in divorce. In fact, one might credibly argue that no-fault divorce spelled the end of traditional marriage. Second, the economic benefits that marriage once provided are illusory. Some economists suggest that couples who live together enjoy the same, and sometimes better, tax benefits as those who marry, taking away the economic incentive for couples to wed.

In light of such realities, a cleric consulted by a couple considering marriage should probably send them to a psychiatrist or to a lawyer. If one of the would-be spouses has greater assets than the other, the lawyer will quickly advise him of what lies ahead, should expectations of connubial bliss prove ephemeral. Marriage “contracts” are the order of the day, but how are such contracts consistent with a Christian view of marriage?

In Canada, marriage laws require equal treatment of all couples — married or common law, homosexual or heterosexual — who live together in a “conjugal relationship” for just one year. In light of such legislation, it is ridiculous to carry on as though marriage retains even a vestige of its Christian origins.

It would be interesting to know what might happen if the Catholic Church in Britain responded to the government’s same-sex marriage legislation by severing its connection with the state when it comes to marriage. It could, for example, continue to perform religious marriages, but refuse to register them. Would there be any takers? I suspect there would be, as some people love God, but loathe the long arm of the nanny state.

It is doubtful that the Catholic Church in England will follow the Protestant example and get busy devising ceremonies and liturgies to accommodate same-sex marriages, which could lead to a confrontation between Church and state.

National Post

Ian Hunter is professor emeritus in the Faculty of Law at Western University.